Hello September!

Can you believe it is finally here?!?! I can't say enough how excited I am!!

Today my deployment donut says 70% done. That means: ONLY 30% LEFT TO GO! AAAAAHHHH! I am freaking out. I absolutely cannot wait to have this dang thing behind us!!!

Also, have you heard of MyCAA? Seriously amazing. I was on the fence about continuing this program because I didn't feel like I needed a more undergrad courses to get a teaching certification since I already have a bachelor's. Putting us in more debt didn't make sense.

And then... My guardian angel, the DOD, comes up with this! The amount given is exactly the cost of tuition for one year. Coincidence? I think not.

Seriously though, if you're eligible, do it. It is soooo easy and awesome!

Tomorrow morning I have my first college exam in 3 years. Crazy, no? I'm definitely nervous about it, for a lot of reasons. But, I'm going to keep studying and be confident and totally pass with flying colors. Annnd, as an added bonus, after tomorrow morning, 11am CST, I will be totally done with my American Government and Political Science course! Yahoo!

Off to study friends!!

Oh, so lovely.

It's a girl! Due January 13th now! I'm so excited to be an Auntie again!!

Today I spent 2.5 hours at Darnall, and rewarded myself with a teeny shopping spree. I got a sweater for Brian, onesies for my neices(!), and tonnnns of home fragrance from Bath&Body. Their Ginger Vanilla smells sooooooo good.

Also, there is a hole in the fence nextdoor, and these runaways decided to pay a visit to Coco and I:




All in all, a very good day.

So. I've gotten together with some old friends, and made some new ones. It feels comfortable to be back here with 'the wives' but almost more frustrating too, 'cause I have to go home alone at the end of the night... Argh.

Brian got orders the other day, 2 weeksagoish. To Alaska. Seeeeeriously.

This is frustrating to me for a few reasons. He won't be home for months, and had a plan in place to change his MOS, reenlist for a school, and potentially find a duty station near-er to home, or, at the very least get some good solid experience so that moving back home is a more plausible possibility. But nope, he is quasi-stop-lossed and cannot change anything until he is with the new unit for a year. Ugh. Seriously Army? Seriously?

Also, how the crap can I get a 'real' job if I know I'm going to leave in 8ish months??? How the crap am I everrrrr going to have a career? I've been applying for sub jobs, as it is the most temporary, lucrative, and malleable position that I can expect in this situation. I just hope one of the districts around here needs me. I guess continuing on this teaching certification program also makes sense, as much as I'd rather not.

Okay, enough of that. Whining about future/hypothetical/nobody-on-here-gives-a-hoot stuff is not fun to read, I've just got to write it out, or my head may have exploded.

Some things I've discovered recently:
*My friends here are awesome.
*Drinking wine + shopping online = lots of fun mail this week!
*People aren't as nice as I want them to be...

*Chocolate covered bananas are sooooooo much better than I expected.

*My husband fancies himself an electrician, once in awhile

Life is lovely. Tomorrow I get to find out if my sister's new baby will be a boy or a girl! Later on I have a date for a spin class. I've never done one before, so I expect to be too feeble to type tomorrow... Wish me luck!!

I banged my head on the fridge earlier today putting groceries today, so in lieu of chatting I'll show you all some pictures from the last month... Enjoy!

My neice, Alyssa's, grump face




She looooved the ranch dressing at Applebee's! I miss her so dang much already, crazy baby!



Crazyyyyy roadtrip with my sister!!




We had so much fun!


More later, I'm going to be nursing my bump with an icepack...

Can you believe 3 whole people commented on my last post? I mean, the fact that people even read my craziness is thrilling, but people even write back?!?!?!? Blogging rocks! And, thank you so so much! I so struggle at writing back to anyone, even on easy-peasy facebook, so I feel extra lucky, and am making an effort, promise!

Okay, the apartment is mostly set up, and I love it. All of our things survived the trip, thankfully, and we have more room than we used to! The second bedroom is stuffed to the brim with Brian's "gear" if ya know what I mean, and bits of house that don't fit anywhere else, but I'm just happy to have space for all of our extra junk!

I'm kiiind of concerned that I might be living in the ghetto. I know that most of Killeen is straight up sketchy, but we're farther out of town than we were before, so I hoped we would be safe. Our neighbors seem harmless, for the most part, but then I saw the ice cream man, and he confirmed it! Seriously, some creepy old man cruising around in a big rapist-van-turned-ice-cream-truck. I wish I had gotten a picture. I almost hope he comes back tomorrow...

Dude.

I still don't have pictures from the trip b/c I am technologically challenged. (or should not rely on a crap .99 cent thing from amazon?!)



And. I won't be able to figure it out tomorrow because,




(drrrumroll, please)




THE MOVERS ARE COMING!! And I'll have a bed! And pots and pans! And curtains and desks and shelves and bathroom rugs! Tomorrow will be a good day.

Hood Happenings...

Yes, we have arrived! The new apartment is lovely, and the temperatures are hotter than I remember! In a few more days the furniture will be here, and then I can officially begin the job hunt.

Have you ever cleaned your car so much, that you cleaned off the clear coat? I did that yesterday, seriously. In my effort to get off all the bugs from the trip, I managed to spray off the top layer in a ginormous spot on the front hood. Soooo frustrating, who really does that? I kind of fixed it, and really she's an old car and not in the best shape externally anyway, but I can't believe I can be *that* blonde sometimes!!

But, I did find that the Target down here has my favorite wine for only $8.99! Two whole dollars less than it was in Maine!! I bought a bottle and am saving it for when my apartment is put together.

In transit

We left Maine at 9am, Friday morning, and drove foreverrrrrr. We gave up around 5am in Tennessee and stopped at a rest stop for a nap, but after an hour I was ready to go again. (Not sure why, Molly is convinced something is really really wrong with me.!) After I got some alarming news from Brian we stopped in Arkadelphia, Arkansas 'cause I couldn't drive anymore. We've slept a lot and showered, so hopefully the next 6 hours will be quick and easy.

The news from Brian isn't too traumatic, hopefully, just overwhelming. I'm trying to be positive, and also praying that it will change. More info to come later.

I have to say, of my seven times making this trip, this has been the most fun so far. My little sister, Molly, is officially the best person to take a roadtrip with, ever. Annnnd, her driving only makes me a little scared, but she more than makes up for it when she talks to other cars, sings at the top of her lungs to Britney Spears, buys me energy drinks, and looks up all the silly town names so we can make fun of the crazy people together. I'm so excited that I get her for a few more days!

Unless we find wi-fi at another hotel, this may be my last post until I get my internet set up at the new place... But then I'll be able to put up pictures!

My favorite things today:

Pumpkin Whoopie pies from Big G's. (they bring back memories of illicit movie theater snacks during my B's r&r!)

My packing skillzz, YO! Haha, I fit my 3 ginormous bags into the trunk, and will probably have enough room for the rest, Pup included!

Doing computer stuff in my bed! Who knew?!?

Sweet Alyssa. I'm going to miss all of her baby-craziness when I'm far away.

j/k.

So, the desktop died permanently. After letting my tech savvy brother-in-law fiddle with it for hours, he pronounced it un-revivable. I did some more research, read reviews, and more fun stuff, and finally decided on a laptop that was perfect, and a teeny bit less than what I wanted to spend, hooray! I picked her up yesterday, and am already in love.

B called, and he is tired. Majorly. It is sooooo frustrating not being able to do anything at all to make him feel better. Words only go so far... Ugh. At least soon I'll be putting his clothes in our new closet and sending him the last few boxes while he's in the desert.

I'm moving through my last week here pretty quickly, and my mom is laying on the guilt like no other. It kinda feels like moving away did the first time, and I don't really like it. This is the worst part though, I think. As soon as I'm settled in the new place, working lots, and counting the weeks (daysssssss?) until B gets home, it'll feel like normal.

From now until then I'm going to be wracking up as much QT with the fam, and enjoying the mildness of a new england summer! Until next time, yo.